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Is Ewan McGregor The Man Who Killed Don Quixote?

Terry Gilliam hasn’t had the easiest time putting The Man Who Killed Don Quixote together. The filmmaker began production on the movie in 2000, but after Jean Rochefort (Quixote) suffered an on-set injury, the project was shut down entirely. Ten years later, Gilliam is attempting to give Quixote another go. It’s already known that Robert Duvall is playing the title role previously occupied by Rochefort, and now it appears that former leading man Johnny Depp has been replaced by Ewan McGregor.

In the original vision of Quixote, the character (then played by Depp, now by McGregor) is a modern day advertising executive who becomes unstuck in time and travels back to the 17th century. He’s mistaken for Sancho Plaza by Don Quxiote, leading the quirky hero and the time displaced executive to embark on journeys together.

“Robert Duvall is one of the greats, no question — and he can ride a horse!” Gilliam revealed to Empire. “And Ewan has gotten better over the years. He was wonderful in The Ghost. There’s a lot of colours to Ewan that he’s not been showing recently and it’s time for him to show them again. He’s got a great sense of humour and he’s a wonderful actor. He’s wonderfully boyish and can be charming — when he flashes a smile, everybody melts. He wields it like a nuclear bomb!”

Gilliam also told Empire that the budget for Quixote is roughly $20 million.